Wash, clean, and crack crab (ask your fish monger to do it for you). Pick over crab meat to remove any shell or cartilage. Set aside. In a saute pan or wok, heat a little peanut oil and fry ground pork, garlic and ginger, just until garlic is softened and pork turns color. Drain oil.

Meanwhile, soak black beans in warm water 10 minutes. In a bowl, combine sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, wine, and chili sauce. Drain beans, add to sesame oil mixture, and mash with a fork; add pork to mixture.

Put crab on a heatproof curved plate or in a shallow bowl and sprinkle evenly with black bean sauce and pork. Fill a wide pot one-third full of water and fit with steaming rack that keeps plate above water. Bring water to a boil and turn down to a gentle simmer. Place plate of crab on steamer rack and steam 10 minutes. Arrange crab and sauce on a serving platter and sprinkle with minced green onion and whole Chinese parsley leaves and serve.

Serves 4-6.

• Per serving: 460 calories, 25 g fat, 210 mg cholesterol, 1085 mg sodium, 35 mg ortein, 8 mg carboydrate

From San Francisco, where crab is greatly appreciated, comes this decadent and easy recipe for fresh cracked crab. Originally detailed in a 1997 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, the recipe suggests that when you cook the crabs, you add 1 large quartered lemon, 1/2 cup(!) of kosher salt and 1 cup of white vinegar to 2 gallons of water. This recipe was an experiment; they tried doubling the garlic in the original roasted crab recipe and it was sensational with a crisp white wine and crusty San Francisco sourdough bread.

GARLIC ROASTED CRAB

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Put the butter, oil and garlic in a roasting pan. Put the roasting pan in the oven to melt the butter. Add the cooked crab pieces, turning them to coat with the butter-oil mixture. Roast for 10-15 minutes, or until the crab shells are shiny, the crab is hot all the way through and the garlic is golden. Spoon over the lemon juice and the parsley and turn the crabs to coat evenly.

Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of the pan juices into the reserved crab butter (if you have it from cracking the crabs yourself). Arrange the crab pieces on serving platters, then pour the pan juices over them. Garnish with sprigs of parsley and lemon wedges and serve with the crab butter.

Serves 5-6.

• Per serving: 255 calories, 17 g protein, 2 g carbohydrate, 21 g fat (7 g saturated), 81 mg cholesterol, 346 mg sodium, 0 g fiber.

From Washington state, home of the Dungeness crab (they were named for a coastal town there, but actually can be found in waters from Alaska to Northern California), comes this crab cake recipe by chef-restaurateur Tom Douglas. Douglas made his early reputation on crab cakes and wrote a book "I Love Crab Cakes" (William Morrow, 2006). (You know Chef Tom by sight: He's been on "Iron Chef" and was a judge in an episode last season.) His crab cakes are light as air and sweet as a fresh ocean breeze.

TOM DOUGLAS' CRAB CAKES

In a small food processor, combine egg yolk, vinegar, mustard, bell pepper, onion, 2 teaspoons chopped parsley, Tabasco, paprika, thyme, salt and pepper. Pulse to mince the vegetables and combine the ingredients. With motor running, slowly drizzle in oil through the feed tube until the mixture emulsifies and forms a thin mayonnaise. Transfer mayonnaise mixture to a large bowl and stir in sour cream, then carefully fold in crabmeat. Gently form into 8 crab cakes, about 3 inches across and [0xbe]-inch thick. Put the fresh bread crumbs in a shallow container and stir in remaining parsley. Lightly dredge the crab cakes on both sides in the bread crumbs. Chill for at least 1 hour (preferably longer). Put 2 large nonstick skillets over medium heat and add about 2 tablespoons butter to each pan. When butter is melted, add 4 cakes to each pan. Gently fry until golden brown on both sides and hot through, turning once with a spatula, about 4 minutes on each side. Depending on appetites, suggest service of two crab cakes per serving, with lemon wedges.

Makes 4-6 servings.

• Per serving: 500 calories, 32 g fat, 12 g saturated fat, 170 mg cholesterol, 850 mg sodium, 24 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 2 g sugar, 29 g protein

From the Bicol region of the Philippines, a group of islands southeast of Luzon island, comes this steamed crab recipe crunchy with fresh coconut, tangy with juice of the calamansi (Philippine lime) and not difficult to make. It's kind of a crab laulau. You can find husked coconuts and coconut meat in Chinatown and at some Polynesian grocery stores. Do NOT use angel flake (sweetened) coconut or dried coconut. Banana leaves are available in Chinatown and at some Polynesian markets (or in your neighbor's yard!). Some recipes for tilmok add minced green onion and some spice the mixture up with small, hot minced bird's-eye chili peppers.

TILMOK

In a large bowl, mix together coconut and crab meat. Add onion and garlic and toss to mix. Drizzle calamansi juice over mixture and toss again to mix. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pass the banana leaf quickly over an open flame or an electric burner turned on high. (Don't touch the flame or burner; hold it a few inches above, grasping the edges and move it back and forth; the ridges will turn color, the surface will lose its gloss and the leaf will become pliable. Divide the tilmok mixture into 8 portions and cut banana leaf of sufficient size to make a folded packet. Steam packets over simmering water for 15-20 minutes. The ingredients will form a sort of crab loaf.

Makes 8 servings.